Monday, June 27, 2011

At first glance, there's nothing wrong with this statement aside from its being the kind of ridiculously pedestrian pandering we've all come to expect from Republican candidates in general and tea partiers in particular. But then you realize that this is Michele Bachmann -- and therefore it comes as no surprise that John Wayne the legendary actor and conservative icon wasn't, in fact, from Waterloo, Iowa but the notorious serial killer John Wayne Gacy was.

Just remember, though -- ignore this sort of thing and trust the political media when they drool all over themselves to tell you that Bachmann is someone who deserves to be taken seriously.

Gacy spent the early part of his life in Waterloo, Dona. Far as I know, he was actually born in Chicago. It's really a silly slip-up and one probably not worthy of all the attention it'll get for 24 hours, considering that actor Wayne was born not far away -- but it's still really entertaining. It'd be easy to say that Bachmann was inheriting the mantle of Sarah Palin if she hadn't already, quite a while back.

Not to belabor the point, but I was 13 years-old, living in Chicago when the Gacy story broke. The story was 24/7 here for months, at a time when there was no cable television in Chicago; our own local version of the O.J. trial. We were hammered with every little detail about this man and his life. It was pretty much indelibly imprinted onto our collective cortices.

He lived in Waterloo as a married adult for three-odd years; not even long enough to be considered "from there".

That is what it is; people make mistakes. This is the part bothered me:

At first glance, there's nothing wrong with this statement aside from its being the kind of ridiculously pedestrian pandering we've all come to expect from Republican candidates in general and tea partiers in particular.

This kind of behavior isn't reserved for just Republicans or tea-partiers. We need only look back to the last presidential election to see that.

Barack Obama never let a single opportunity pass without telling the public about his strong Midwestern morals and values, instilled in him by a family with deep Kansan roots. As if the history of the state of Kansas is some shining beacon of tolerance and understanding; as if "Bloody Kansas" was something to be proud of.

And when people pointed out that he'd never actually been to Kansas, the campaign was quick to correct. He'd been there on several occasions they told us. Yeah, sitting on the tarmac while his campaign jet was being refueled.

This is the kind of Salesmanship:101 bullshit we're regularly bombarded with from all sides: Establish a familiar rapport with the customer by exploiting or trading on any shared experience or bit of mutual interest that you happen to share with the customer.

It's a fair statement that politics in general is little more than shameless pandering. What irks me then is that the political right tends to invoke and co-opt the most grandiose, least humble of traditional American iconography and it calls itself the only viewpoint qualified to do so. The natural inheritor of that particular mantle.

I'm a veteran network news producer and manager, a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and the Daily Banter, and a writer who's been featured in the New York Observer and the Village Voice. I'm also the author of a book called Dead Star Twilight and the founder of DXM Media, a firm specializing in television production as well as social media strategies and consulting. On top of all that nonsense, I'm the co-host of "The Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show" podcast and radio show with Bob Cesca. To find out more about me and/or throw money at me, go here. You can contact me at deusexmalcontent@gmail.com or chez@dxmmedia.com

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